Redondo Beach

Select Beer Store Celebrates 5 Years of Craft Beer

On Saturday afternoon, Select Beer Store, in Redondo Beach celebrated their 5th Anniversary by bringing in craft beer from some of their favorite local craft breweries. Barley Hops Grill was also there with their special style of barbecue.

As I was going through my notes I noticed that it was five years ago, during the 7th Annual American Craft Beer Week that I first visited Select Beer Store for their South Bay Tap Takeover which featured all four of the South Bay’s breweries; El Segundo Brewing, Monkish Brewing, Strand Brewing and Smog City Brewing.

Today the South Bay alone has more than 20 breweries; things have really grown in the last five years and Select Beer is not only selling craft beer but they have also been involved with a few collaborations, at least a couple of which were available at their anniversary celebration. Continue reading

Zymurgy Brew Works Guest Brewer Night with Phil McDaniel

These photos are from Wednesday evening at Zymurgy Brew Works & Tasting Room, when they held the third in a series of “Learn to Brew” guest brewer nights. Wednesday’s guest brewer was Phil McDaniel, the head brewer at King Harbor Brewing Company (KHBC) in Redondo Beach; the beer being brewed is one of my personal favorites from KHBC, Tiki Hut IPA.

About 15 people attended with a pretty even mix of homebrewers and those that had never tried brewing before; this was also the first time visiting Zymurgy for some with a few people that had yet to visit KHBC. This made for some interesting questions and McDaniel was more than willing to provide valuable answers; covering such subjects as various grain bills and their affect on a beer, as well how he decided on what hops to use.

McDaniel gave us a little background story on his brewing pedigree; including the fact that he started off by volunteering at Bootleggers Brewery (with about two hours notice), before moving on to such prestigious breweries as The Bruery and Stone Brewing Company. Continue reading

An Accurate List of All the South Bay Breweries

Recently there have been a couple articles circulating around social media claiming to list all of the South Bay breweries; one that went around yesterday missed four or five of them, depending on whether or not a tasting room was required. As the Craft Beer Guy I have been fortunate to have this craft beer boom explode all around my home; I also feel obligated to provide an accurate list of all the breweries currently brewing in the South Bay as well as the next two scheduled to open.

In order to not show favoritism, and to give credit where credit is due, I will list all the South Bay breweries by the date they opened. As I have visited each brewery, I will provide a link to each so you can look at my articles to determine if you want to visit them. The photos are in order as well. Continue reading

Media Appreciation Night at Rock & Brews PCH

These photos are from the Media Appreciation Night that was held Thursday evening at Rock & Brews PCH in Redondo Beach. The event was two-fold in that not only did they show their appreciation to local food and beer bloggers by feeding us and giving us craft beer; but they also used the opportunity to introduce the new food menu that has been introduced to all the Rock & Brews locations.

A few of the new items that are pictured include Onion Rings (they used to only be an appetizer, now they are also a side to any entree), Jalapeno Poppers, and a Mediterranean Chopped Salad. They also introduced their Kansas City Style Hot Dog, a Demon Chicken Sandwich, and the Gastropub Burger. For dessert they now added items like a Key Lime Pie and the Giant Brownie Sundae. Continue reading

Pints for Prostates at Shade Hotel Redondo Beach

These photos are from the Pints for Prostates beer tasting that was put on by the Torrance Memorial Medical Center and held at the newly opened Shade Hotel Redondo Beach. The event was a kickoff to the annual Movember fundraiser that is meant to draw attention to men’s health issues; specifically prostate and testicular cancers as well as mental health and suicide prevention. When I grew a mustache for Movember back in 2010 the program was primarily to bring awareness that one in seven men would be diagnosed with prostate cancer, today it also includes suicide prevention as more men die from suicide than testicular or prostate cancer.

Pints for Prostates was sponsored by Shade Hotel, The South Bay Mo Bros’, King Harbor Brewing Company, Strand Brewing Company, and Hop Saint Brewing Company. Timothy Lesser, MD, Garret Matsunaga, MD, and David Wallis, MD each spoke on the importance of early detection and men’s health and a couple survivors spoke of their experience while one person told us what happened when his father delayed being examined. Continue reading

Photos from Laughs By Volume 5

These photos were taken at Laughs By Volume 5 which was held Sunday afternoon at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in Redondo Beach. Laughs By Volume is a combination comedy show and craft beer tasting; Sunday’s event featured the comedy of JOnesy, Julian Michael and Cisco and beers from breweries like Arsenal Urban Ales, Stone Brewing, Bear Republic, 21st Amendment, King Harbor Brewing, Refuge Brewery, Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead Company, Mother Earth, Eel River, Sixpoint Brewery, Arrogant Bastard, The Dudes’, Ex Novo Brewing, Victory Brewing, Locust Cider, Julian Hard Cider, Smog City Brewing, Ska Brewing, Boulevard Brewing, and Brasserie d’Achouffe.

While this was venue was the best of those used so far and the beer selection was top notch, and everything was set up and ready to go with plenty of time to spare, this event had the lowest attendance of any of the previous events because it turned out that Eventbrite had ticket sales unavailable for six days. Unfortunately, no one really said anything about it, so we did not know; as soon as we were made aware of it, the issue was resolved. From now on tickets will be made available via two outlets; Eventbrite and [most likely] Brown Paper Tickets.

Despite the low attendance, everyone there seemed to be having a great time with plenty of craft beer and no lines. The next Laughs By Volume will likely be held in the Inland Empire with shows in Redondo Beach and Phoenix, Arizona following shortly thereafter. Cheers! Continue reading

Laughs By Volume 5 Coming to Redondo Beach

jonesy laughs by volume

3 Comedians and Craft Beer at Laughs By Volume 5

Regular readers of this site probably recall that I have been promoting Laughs By Volume since January. While the first four events have each been better that the previous one, I know that many of you have not attended primarily because of the venues being in DTLA or Buena Park; I am happy to announce that Laughs By Volume 5 will be held in Redondo Beach!

That’s right; Laughs By Volume 5 will be held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Sunday, October 16 from 2:00-5:00 PM. This event will feature at least 40 craft beers and three comedians; Cisco, Jonesy & Julian Michael. Naturally, I have a discount code for you.

This event is perfect for those of you that enjoy going to comedy shows and enjoy craft beer. When you go to a comedy club you can count on a $25.00 cover charge with a two drink minimum; with Laughs By Volume 5 tickets are $25.00 online (before your discount), with unlimited pours of craft beer while enjoying the comedy; the past four events have been great. Continue reading

DoorDash Now Offering Beer Delivery in LA/OC/SD

doordash delivery

DoorDash Now Delivers Beer!

I guess I will begin this story by telling you that this is a sponsored post, in that I am being compensated for trying out DoorDash and writing about the experience. As my regular readers have probably figured out by now, I am not going to fluff up the experience just because I am being paid to write about it.

At the end of June I received an email telling me about a relatively new startup called DoorDash. DoorDash is a service that started as an on-demand food delivery service ala Pink Dot or UberEATS; and the reason they were contacting me is that they were getting ready to include alcohol delivery in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and they wanted all of you to know that you can have cold, fresh, craft beer delivered to you. What was ironic (to me, anyway) was that not more than an hour earlier one of my friends was on Facebook asking someone to deliver him a beer at work; DoorDash will do just that! Continue reading

Jimmy’s Bar & Grill Beer Dinner Featuring Scholb Premium Ales

I guess the word has gotten out to the craft beer fans and foodies in the South Bay area; Jimmy’s Bar & Grill in Redondo Beach is the place to be on the second Wednesday of the month for their outstanding beer dinners. These photos were taken at Jimmy’s July beer dinner last night featuring the latest production brewery to open in Torrance, Scholb Premium Ales.

When we first started attending Jimmy’s Beer Dinner Series back in September the attendance was probably about 30 people. In the months following the numbers fluctuated a little, but I don’t recall there being more than maybe 50 people at any of them. Yesterday afternoon, Jimmy’s announced on their Facebook page that they had sold out at 60 attendees. I guess not everyone got the message because by the time all was said and done they had over 75 attendees at the dinner. It really was a sight to see. Continue reading

Firestone Walker Beer Dinner at Jimmys Bar & Grill

When I stop to think about it, I only have two things that I do every month like clockwork. One is Business & Beer which we will be celebrating four years of in a couple weeks; that has the second Thursday of every month dedicated to it. The other, more recent addition to my routine are the beer dinners held the second Wednesday of every month at Jimmy’s Bar Grill in Redondo Beach. In the past we have enjoyed co-owner/chef Marc Dix’s delightful food pairings with beers from Smog City Brewing, El Segundo Brewing, Avery, Bell’s Brewery and a night of Belgian ales. They have all been great experiences, but I admit I got a little giddy a month ago when I saw that Firestone Walker would be the featured brewery for this month’s beer dinner. As I started trying to guess what might be poured that night I knew one thing for sure, this was going to be a great meal; I was correct.

Joe Cartlidge, LA Market Manager at Firestone Walker Brewing Company, was there to give a little history of Firestone Walker while we enjoyed our welcome beer, Pivo Pils. I know Dix likes to open up our taste buds with a hoppy brew and the Pivo Pils did the trick. Continue reading

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